A new review of my new CD "Arphus" from Stuart Hamilton for Zeitgeist magazine. Both Mr. Hamilton and Zeitgeist obviously have excellent taste, and their respective websites are well worth checking out.
3/13/2009
BEOWULF KINGSLEY - Arphus Schmarphus Horkus Porkus
What the heck was that all about? A mix of Beefheartian Blues, lo-fi alt country, creepy, stalkerish late night jazz and some funky New Orleans gumbo. Utterly mad and quite delightful.
To be fair, some folks will mark this up as one of the worst albums ever, but the ardent few who love it, will really really love it. Beowulf Kingsley aka Todd Perkins has an interesting history that stretches back to the 60's when he performed with the Shultz Food Band (a performance art outfit that started out actually playing food) before stints in psychiatric institutions, playing bass for the likes of Snooky Pryor and Michael Katon, and my first encounter with him in psychedelic outfit The Flexible Flyers .
The dreadfully titled "Arphus Schmarphus Horkus Porkus" is awash with good tunes, weird lyrics and some excellent performances, be it the Captain Beefheart like 'Hoodoo Stick', the wrong in oh so many ways 'Naked' , the rocking Blues of 'One Born Every Minute' or the Dr John funk of 'Lectric Chair', the latter containing some of the finest lyrics ever. The vocals take some getting used to, but if people can put up with the atonal rumblings of Tom Waits, then they shouldn't have any trouble here.
I was still undecided on whether I loved this or hated it, but when I read that Beowulf Kingsley guaranteed this album "not to stain clothing or to explode at inopportune times", it made my decision a whole lot easier.
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Here's a review from the late lamented Splendid Magazine giving their take on my previous CD "Church Of Dreams" that I did with my band The Flexible Flyers.
Splendid Magazine
www.splendidezine.com
3/29/2004
The Flexible Flyers are in a type or time warp, with the nine of them sincerely kicking out irony free 1970’s psychedelic funk with zero retro taint. This honest aesthetic (no marketable counterculture shtick, no contrived anti-pop image) and leader Todd Perkins’s hilarious lyrics make Church Of Dreams a thoroughly enjoyable album. Seriously – who offers a 60-day money-back guarantee on their records? Flexible Flyers treat you right.
If you know Todd Perkins at all, it’s probably for his backing vocals on Marvin Sease’s raunchy Women Would Rather Be Licked, but he is a world-class lyricist in his own right. On “Chupricabra”, he croons, “If I was your Chupricabra, I would suck upon your goat / and leave it all exsanguinated somewhere real remote”. You won’t even care whether exsanguinated is a real word buy the time you hear the reggae instrumentation on “Under the Zamboni of Your Love”, where Perkins drops lyrics like “Sometimes I feel you’re grindin’ me down, but what am I gonna do / I am under the Zamboni of your love”. The instrumentation is subtle and pleasant, but Perkins laugh-out-loud lyrics steal the show.
-Shaun McCormack
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Here's another review of "Church" from Aural Innovations. Note that I was using my "Dr. Toddzilla" nom de plume at the time...
Aural Innovations
www.aural-innovations.com
1/7/2004
The Brainchild of Dr. Toddzilla, aka Todd Perkins, Church Of Dreams is a trip from the past straight into the present. Toddzilla and his band are a group of entertaining multitalented players.
The Flexible Flyers seem equally comfortable playing groovy sixties psychedelia like opening track Isobel Is Flying, 70’s funk like bouncy Op Art Mini-Dress, early 80’s New Wave like the delightful Chainsaw Holliday, and more modern sounding pop rock like the stylish Full Of Light. Taking their versatility a step further, they spin out some reggae on Zamboni, and do a couple of slower numbers like the luminous Peace In Your Time, the chilling Ice Maiden, and the breezy 70’s California mellow rock of Cynthia Smiles.
There’s nothing overtly weird of freaky on Church Of Dreams, despite the mild psychedelic aspirations, but there is a whold slew of great songwriting, and Perkins’ wonderfully twisted sense of humor throughout.
-Jeff Fitzgerald
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And here's Stuart Hamilton's first review he did of me in Zeitgeist...
Zeitgeist Magazine
www.zeitgeist-scot.co.uk
10/18/2004
This is a peach of a CD, all psychedelic whimsy, funk rhythms and fluid guitar lines. It’s nesting on a borderline between psych, whimsy and jam band, and is full of constant twists and turns, sometimes reminiscent of the inhabitants of Planet Gong.
To steal wholeheartedly from elsewhere, “If you took The Beatles, They Might Be Giants and Syd Barrett, smacked ‘em all real hard on the back of the head and dipped them in a vat of butterscotch, then turned ‘em into a feature length film by the creators of Ren & Stimpy, it would sound like “Church Of Dreams”…well, maybe a little bit, anyway.” Which sums it up rather well.
Doktor Toddzilla (A.K.A. Todd Antony Perkins), for it is he, has a huge pedigree in the Roots Rock / Blues world, having worked with Snooky Pryor, Larry McCray, Madcat Ruth, Ann Rabson, George Bedard, Billy Branch, Howard Levy and Boogie Woogie Red, amongst others. After releasing a solo album. “My Whole Life”, he rounded up a few likeminded critters to unleash this delightful CD upon us.
There are delights aplenty from the peaseful “The Ice Maiden”, the driving Ozric Tentacles sound of “Full Of Light”, the spacerock blues of “Church Of Dreams”, the summer pop of “Cynthia Smiles” and the neverending lyrical delights.
If you need one reason to buy this, then buy it for the first recorded instande of the word ‘exanguinated’* on a record. Or buy it for the experimental tone poems, unusual polyrhythms and acoustic nods to the Grateful Dead. You decide.
*drained of blood, if you’re interested
-Stuart Hamilton
